Blackstone to sell Boston office properties -source

May 18 (Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP has agreed to
sell several Boston office properties to a real estate
investment consortium led by Oxford Properties Group for
approximately $2.1 billion, a person familiar with the matter
said on Sunday.

The deal is the biggest divestment of U.S. offices by
Blackstone since the financial crisis and underscores the
gradual recovery of that market. U.S. office prices increased
6.2 percent in the 12 months to March 2014 as office employment
growth continued to outpace the wider job market and
construction levels remained low, according to real estate
information provider CoStar Group.

The source declined to be identified on Sunday because the
deal is not yet public. Blackstone and Oxford Properties Group
declined to comment.

An additional Boston holding, the office and hotel property
Rowes Wharf, was said to be in the process of a sale to
Blackstone's existing partner in the property, Morgan Stanley
, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on
Sunday.

The buildings are part of the portfolio Blackstone took over
in its $39 billion acquisition of Sam Zell's Equity Office
Properties in 2007.

Other bidders for the group of properties, according to the
newspaper report, were the government of Singapore, the
government of Norway and insurer Metlife Inc. None of
those parties were immediately available for comment on Sunday.